Just to recap, our goals for this show were:

1. End on a number and not a letter.
2. Score in the low 30s dressage.
3. Double clear SJ and XC
4. Have Jack be a happier creature in his stall

And now that list looks like….

1. End on a number and not a letter.
2. Score in the low 30s dressage.
3. Double clear SJ and XC
4. Have Jack be a happier creature in his stall

Boom.

Saturday morning was bloody cold, and I got to the horse park about an hour and a half before our test. This in itself was a first for us, since normally we are there a day early and school XC and SJ (an amazing opportunity at this venue). But we came in cold this weekend in more ways than one, missing our schooling opportunity as well as our schedule jumping lesson that week. Bummer.

But Jack seemed settled and soon I was out warming up for dressage. This was a huge show, with 5 dressage rings going at one time. All the horses share one flat warmup, and I thought Jack handled the chaos with really good attitude. He was a bit tense and therefore behind my leg, but the test we put in was accurate and obedient. We got an 8 on our first centerline and final halt, things I specifically wanted to work on, and comments about staying steady in the contact, and the right canter transitiong, which is not so shocking as it continues to be a work in progress. With a 32.6 we ended in 4th place out of 20 after dressage. (No media, so here’s practice of the other BN test a few days prior)

If the dressage warmup was chaos, the jumping warmup was a legitimate hot mess. Horses rearing, spinning, passing on the left, jumping the warmup fence backwards… Seriously- who were these yahoos? But again Jack proved his worth and handled it well, though felt like he needed a wake up call for the most part, and I needed to remember not to lean through turns and think about going on the back side of the fence so we didn’t land in a heap.

Our stadium course

Our actual stadium round was nothing like our warmup. The number of brightly colored sticks in one place was sensory overload for poor Jack, and he bounced off the fences spooking as we made our way to fence 1. We got some less than great spots, including a moment where I thought I was going to actually land on his neck, but thanks to the yellow beastie’s ability and a get er’ done mentality we got around double clear and moved up to 3rd.

Tomorrow’s recap: XC!